Father Of Three Deeply In Debt -- And Missing

Father Of 3 Missing -- And Deeply In Debt

May 03, 1992|By TRACY GORDON FOX; Courant Staff Writer

George Tsolakis liked to stay out late playing cards and pool in the smoky Greek social clubs in Hartford.

But the former pizza parlor owner always went home to his wife and three young boys in Marlborough. On Feb. 23, he called his wife at about 11:30 p.m. to say he was heading home. That was the last time he spoke to any friends or family.

FOR THE RECORD - Bernard Bartenstein owns and runs Corvette Center of merica on South Street in Coventry. The body shop and car sales business remains open and has never closed. George Tsolakis, whose disappearance is nor dealings with the business. The shop's status and Tsolakis' affiliation with it were incorrectly reported in a Courant story on Page B1 on May 3.

Creditors say Tsolakis was a shifty businessman and con artist who left the area, and possibly the country, to avoid at least $200,000 in debts, some 13 years old. But family members who knew him as a doting father fear he has been harmed.

Just about everyone in the tightly knit Greek community in the South End has heard "Georgie" is missing. It was known he owed money to just about everyone. But if he planned to leave, he did not tell anyone.

"Everybody knows he had financial problems, but nobody knows how serious it is," said Akis Beos, manager of the Greek American Sportsman Club on Maple Avenue. "He owed me $300 to $400 that I gave to him to help him."

When Beos last saw him, Tsolakis did not seem depressed. He was playing cards and watching TV as usual, Beos said. "He was normal like everyday. He no say anything to nobody," Beos said.

Only two weeks before he was reported missing, Tsolakis told an acquaintance that he was going to take care of his outstanding bills and get back in the pizza parlor business and run it right, the friend said.

Some of his friends say Tsolakis may have left home in shame after losing his businesses and in fear of going to jail on criminal charges of writing bad checks and failing to pay taxes.

Tsolakis liked to gamble in small card games in the social

clubs and most recently at Foxwoods High Stakes Bingo & Casino in Ledyard. Some speculate that he had illegal gambling debts.

Twice since his disappearance, people have told police they saw him at the casino, where his red Fiat sports car was found abandoned and covered with snow in mid-March.

State police Det. Thomas Wakely of Troop K in Colchester has been looking for Tsolakis, showing his picture around the casino and talking to people in the Greek community. He has gotten a few leads but has not been able to prove Tsolakis is all right.

One woman told Wakely she saw the stocky Greek native on Feb. 29 at the casino. "She remembered him because he was at the money wheel and he won 40-to-1 odds," Wakely said. "She didn't know how much he won or how much he bet."

Casino employees also thought they saw him there in March with two other men, shortly before his car was found. But state police haven't been able to confirm either report.

The casino has no records showing how much he may have won, police said. Police found a voucher that appeared to have his signature, but film from security cameras of that time was erased, Wakely said.

Tsolakis' family and friends say they cannot believe he would leave without telling his family. His wife, Vasiliki Tsolakis, who calls herself Betsy, is worried. Her husband's brothers in Florida and relatives in Greece have not heard from him.

Betsy Tsolakis has been forced to move from her Marlborough home because she could no longer make payments. She and her sons are staying with relatives in Springfield.

The Greek community in March raised $1,950 for Betsy Tsolakis and the children, Beos said.

George Tsolakis' creditors are also worried -- that they'll never get their money.

"I still get bills for him," said Tom Cunningham, who opened a pizza parlor in Manchester where Tsolakis' restaurant had been before it closed in 1990.

The largest single debt Tsolakis left was for $147,000 in back taxes to the state Department of Revenue Services, said A.J. Janschewitz, a department spokesman. He had not paid his taxes on his pizza parlors.

Tsolakis was given a break when a judge granted him leniency with a probation that would have erased some of the charges if he made restitution, Janschewitz said. Last June he was told to pay $5,500 in restitution over the two-year probation and then slowly pay the state the rest of the debt, Janschewitz said.

But Tsolakis hasn't been paying. If caught, he will be rearrested. He also faces charges of failing to pay other taxes and failing to appear in court.

But his attorney, John Barbieri of New Britain, said Tsolakis was not the sole owner of two of the Pizza Express stores. Tsolakis owned the stores in Manchester and West Hartford, but those in Wethersfield and Glastonbury were owned by other people, Barbieri said.

"The state claims a lot of things, but have yet to prove it," he said.

After Tsolakis was arrested on the state charges last summer, an employee stole everything from his Manchester store while he waited to be freed on bond, Barbieri said.

"There was no way to pay people back. I think he's not a very

good businessman, and he has a very good heart," Barbieri said. "He helped people out."

But the people owed money -- including former employees -- do not see Tsolakis that way.